🏌Episode 12: Top Pro Golf 2 - 1993 - SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive "Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun!"🏌 #Retrogaming #SEGA

🏌"I've made it to Episode 12 and the truth is that Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun!

It's Top Pro Golf 2 on the SEGA Genesis and it's fun if you can putt..."

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

🎮👾 Review: 8-Bit Armies & 8-Bit Hordes “Attack the Blocks” 👾🎮 #IndieGame

Developer: Petroglyph Games

Rating: Melting

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

It was a simpler time. But a frustrating one. Before the internet ushered in a glorious era of cat memes, trolling and post-pub online shopping sprees, everything happened at a slower pace. 

🔎 Ten Minute Taster: Conarium "Join me as I Explore the Antarctic Base!" 🔎 #IndieGame #GameDev

"Join me as I Explore the Conarium Antarctic Base, study clues, unlock secrets and generally get freaked out!"

💙⚽ Why I Love Football Video Games "It all started in a Fish & Chip Shop"⚽💙 #Retrogaming

It all started with an arcade game in a Fish & Chip Shop in Enfield.

The shop was called the Sea Shell Fish Bar and the arcade cabinet was TEHKAN WORLD CUP

After witnessing someone complete the game whilst I was standing in the shop queue with my dad one Friday night I was never the same again. 

I was obsessed with football video games from that point onwards and more specifically I was obsessed with the quest to find the best football game out there.

📽️ 🎮 The Games Freezer YouTube Trailer 2019 🎮 📽️ #Retrogaming

🎮 It's time for the NEW Games Freezer YouTube Trailer 2019...

Retro Gaming, Indie Gaming and Britt's Flaming Gavel! 🎮

🦄 Review: Eternity: The Last Unicorn "A Game Out of Time" 🦄 #GameDev #IndieGame

🦄 Developer: Void Studios 🦄

Rating: Melting

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

A game that aims high but unfortunately ends up feeling like a cancelled late-gen PS2 title that was bought, polished and released two generations too late.

Void Studios’ first release, Eternity: The Last Unicorn (E: TLU) came across as sweeping and majestic in not only it’s trailers but also through various blurbs and descriptions (not helped by the mention of ‘Elderly Scrolls’ in the latest trailer, curiously re-named ‘Addy Scrolls’ in-game). Of course, this isn’t a game that can compare with Bethesda’s behemoth titles, coming as it does from a small, new studio.

✍️🎙️ Britt Interviews: Simon Meeks (The Secret Experiment) 🎙️✍️ @Simon_Meek @TheSecretExp @BrittRecluseuk

The Secret Experiment created one of my games of the year for 2018, the wonderfully twisted, abstract and also BAFTA-winning Beckett.

Ever since playing the game, I’ve kept an eye on the company and the man behind it, Simon Meek. Keen to see what he came up with next.

To my surprise, it wasn’t a video game at all but an experimental book entitled Marnie Wakes which consists of 32 cards to be read or ‘performed’ in any order.

I’d never come across anything like this with the exception of William S Burroughs own experimental ‘Cut and Paste’ style of literature which eventually gave us Naked Lunch, and so I was intrigued.

🐵 Review: Ape Out "Serious Monkey Business" 🐵 @devolverdigital #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Ape Out

Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Rating: Ice Cool

Although at first glance, there are comparisons to be drawn between Ape Out and Hotline Miami, within a few moments of gameplay, it’s clear to see that it isn’t really ‘apeing’ it at all, and it’s all the better for it.

📦🎮Quickshot Custom Triggers Unboxing (PS4) 📦🎮 @bionikgaming

🎮 "Let's talk about the PS4 Quickshot Custom Triggers and I try to demonstrate how to install them" 🎮

🍺🗡Review: Party Hard (SWITCH) "You start asking yourself why they can't keep the bloody noise down" 🗡🍺 @tinyBuild #IndieGame #GameDev

Parties are fun. I know it, you know it.

Rockstar-turned-agony uncle Andrew WK knows it. "When it's time to party, we will party hard," and all that.

However, as you turn into a late-thirties curmudgeon, like me, you notice that when other people are having parties and you're not, it grates a lot. 

You start asking yourself why they can't keep the bloody noise down, it's nearly eleven o'clock, and other things your eighteen-year-old self would weep at hearing.

👮🚨🍩 Review: Beat Cop (iOS) - "An 80's Pixel Fest Of Cops, Donuts and Laughs!" 👮🚨🍩 #IndieGame @11bitstudios @PxCrow

Beat Cop - iOS

11 Bit Studios

I’m stuck on my train on the way home on a Thursday evening, the train I’m on has stopped and hasn’t moved in the last 15 minutes. Then I remember that I have Beat Cop on my iPhone to play, so I whip it out and get stuck into this great pixel art 80’s police shows inspired video game.

🕹️ Doncaster is Ready To Host The UK’s Biggest Retro Gaming Market On Sunday March 3rd! 🕹️ #Retrogaming @ReplayEvents

"An air of nostalgia is set to sweep through Doncaster in March when the UK’s biggest 

retro video game market comes to town."

🐗 Review: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - PS4 - "Never a ‘boar’ing moment" 🐗 #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Developer: The Bearded Ladies

Platform reviewed: Playstation 4

Rating: Ice Cool

Pre-fight stealth sections add a new angle to the turn-based strategy formula present in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (MYZ: RTE) and the story, whilst quite generic is rich with atmosphere and the unforgiving gameplay is just on the right side to keep you involved without it feeling hugely unfair.

🎧 Unboxing: Venom Nighthawk Chat Gaming Headset (PS4/PC/XBOX/SWITCH/MAC/MOBILE) 🎧

🎧 "This month I'm testing out the Nighthawk single cup gaming headset, ideal for a gamer on a budget who needs one ear on the action and the other on a potential crying baby or maybe the front doorbell!" 🎧

🏌 Episode 11: Battle Golfer - 1991 - SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive - Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun! ⛳ #Retrogaming

🏌Golf Video Games Don't Get Much Weirder Than Battle Golfer Yui on the SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive!

Watch me struggle to comprehend this games weirdness! ⛳

🎧 Gioteck TX20 Retro Stereo Game & Go Headset - Unboxing 🎧 #Unboxing

🎧 "Check these funky retro Gioteck TX20 earphones out with me. Gioteck has got these awesome retro-styled earphones out right now and they're made for gaming. They are compatible with PS4, XBOX, SWITCH, PC, MAC, MOBILE and any other system with a standard microphone jack!" 🎧

🖥 PC Upgrades You Can Probably Afford 🖥

Image source

If your PC is starting to feel a bit sluggish you may be thinking it is time to replace it. They are not cheap though, and a better option could be to look at ways of improving its performance.

PC upgrades could save you a lot of money and make your PC feel like a new machine.

🐒♚Ten Minute Taster: Monkey King: Master Of The Clouds [PS4] 🐒♚ #IndieGame @RetroismGames

♚🐒"A huge Japanese coin-op hit developed by HOT-B in 1989, the game was later renamed Cloud Master when released outside Japan on the Sega Master System. 

It subsequently appeared on NES, SFC, and the PC Engine. This upgraded release of the original arcade version includes HD ready elements by developer Starfish-SD, the company formed by the original HOT-B development team.

For the first time, live online leaderboards will add a worldwide competitive quality to the game not possible before."🐒♚

⚔️🗝️ Review: Iron Crypticle - "Total Carnage, I Love It! (SWITCH) 🗝️⚔️ #GameDev @TIKIPODltd @BrittRecluseuk

Game Title: Iron Crypticle

Developer: Confused Pelican

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Rating: Ice Cool

Playing like a four-player version of Super Smash TV with RPG elements, Iron Crypticle went down a storm at a recent multiplayer night at mine, the clever use of random generation and unlockable items to make each dungeon delve more varied as well as ramping up the replay value immensely.

Fun in single player but elevated above and beyond in the mighty form of local co-op, Iron Crypticle is a keeper.

⛳️🎮 Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun - Episode 10: Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf - 1989 🎮⛳️ #Retrogaming

⛳️🎮 "Play this game with a yardage chart and you might just become a World Champion" 🎮⛳️

🔎 Review: Call Of Cthulu "Not so much a call as a distant whimper" 🔎 #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Call of Cthulhu

Developer: Cyanide

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

The main bulk of my knowledge of Cyanide as developers comes from their previous titles Of Orcs and Men and Styx: Master of Shadows, two titles that, whilst quite rigid in their gameplay, kept me involved until the end.

Whereas in terms of H.P Lovecraft in the gaming medium, the two main touchpoints for me are 2005’s Dark Corners of the Earth and the more recent Conarium, both tasty titles for different reasons.

This new title, Call of Cthulhu, whilst having some great moments, never felt like it got into a flow for me, too many moving parts and a leaping narrative removed my sense of immersion and also interest, ultimately making the latter half of the game feel like a trudge.

⚽ Championship Manager 93 Legends ⚽ #Retrogaming

Nostalgia is a powerful force of nature.

I just got back into playing Championship Manager 93 which is an extremely dangerous statement to be making upfront as I'm now a recovering CM Addict from the 90s.

🗝️ Ten Minute Taster: Rehtona "It's Another Backwards!" 🗝️ #GameDev

游戏简介

《幻境双生 - Rehtona》）是一款复古风的平台像素解谜游戏，首发平台是Steam。在游戏中，玩家将扮演主角Rehtona，身处正发生异变的世界，利用各类独创性机关和她被赐予的 “幻象标记” 能力，穿梭于世界的表里两侧，收集每一片世界之心碎片，解开一个个谜题，找寻故事的真相。

🆒 Review: OlliOlli Switch Stance "If you’ve never played OlliOlli this feels like the ideal time to get involved" 🆒 #GameDev #IndieGame @Roll_7

Let me list off my extensive skateboarding video games points of reference so as I can frame this review for you a little better.

California Games (SMS) – Year Of Release: 1987

Tony Hawks 2 (PS1) – Year Of Release: 2000

🎮🧠 Can Gaming Give You These Life Skills? 🧠🎮

Image via Unsplash

Gaming is an adventure, a way to relax and to catch up with friends.

But have you ever stopped to think it could be teaching you valuable skills?

Yep, it turns out that all the times your parents yelled at you for spending hours hammering away at your controller in your games room, they might have been wrong about it being a waste of time - because you were actually developing a whole host of useful attributes.

Of course, there is no denying that there can be a dark side to excessive gaming - the media is rife with stories of addiction and anti-social behaviour -, but there's also an underreported good side.

🖳 Loading Screen Games 🖳 #Retrogaming

Who remembers a time when you would sit and wait for your computer games to load?

Anyone who owned a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or an Atari 800 will remember it very well!

🔎 Review: Observer 'A great way to spend a few ‘Hauers’ 🔎 @BlooberTeam @BrittRecluseuk #GameDev

Game Title: Observer

Developer: Bloober team

Platform Reviewed: PS4

Rating: Ice Cool

Everything is improved by adding Rutger Hauer, the movie veteran of classics such as Blade Runner (most applicable here), Salute of the Jugger, The Hitcher, Surviving the Game and dozens more besides (yes, even Armageddon with Mark Dacascos, a better film than the 1998 Michael Bay one) provides the physical basis and voices the protagonist of Observer, Daniel Lazarski.

A cop for the KPD (Krakow Police Department), his speciality is hacking into neural implants and ‘observing’ memories to piece together crime scenes. Set almost exclusively in a rundown tenement building in a dystopian Poland, Observer manages to convey a rich world full of dubious history in a relatively claustrophobic setting. Good.

🕹️ Games Room Tour 2019 - "Britt & Faye's Games Room(s)" 🕹️ @BrittRecluseuk @kingdomofcarts #Retrogaming

"Join Britt as he shows us around the awesome games room that he and Faye have built up. Keep your eyes open for some pure retrogaming gold in them there rooms!"

@BrittRecluseuk 🕹️

@kingdomofcarts 🕹️

🌵 Ten Minute Taster: Brawlout - PS4 "My First Go At A Platform Fighter Game!" 🌵 #Brawlout

🥕🥕🥕 Review: Ninjin: Clash Of Carrots "Surprisingly endearing carrot-based frolics" 🥕🥕🥕 #GameDev @NinjinClash

Ninjin: Clash of Carrots
Rating: Ice Cool

When I first received this game for review, I must admit that, from the trailer I assumed it was a tedious endless runner, possibly ported from mobile platforms and so I began to set up the rickety stool and noose, however, I was hugely surprised to see that the game offers far more depth and challenge than I initially expected.

🔴🔫 Review: Pang Adventures "We all make mistakes…mine was not playing this from the second it was released" 🔴🔫

Game Title – Pang Adventures

Developer – Dot Emu

Platform reviewed – Nintendo Switch

Rating – Ice Cool

I sat down to play Pang Adventures with my girlfriend, as it has always shone (as does everything) in local co-op.

After the first training round which probably lasted less than ten seconds, I turned to her and said, “I’m addicted to this”.

What followed were a couple of hours of us ploughing through the first 40 or so (out of 100) levels and I fully intend to carry on tonight, I love it.

🎮⛳️ Episode 9: World Masters Golf - 1995 - SNES - Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun 🎮⛳️ #Retrogaming #SNES

🎮⛳️ "This is a SNES mode 7 golfing extravaganza that is a load of fun to play, come watch me try and become a World Masters Golf Champion" 🎮⛳️

🤺 Review: Kenshi "Kenshi is an impressive feat and rich with depth" 🤺 #GameDev #IndieGame

Lo-Fi Games
Steam Link

A game made by one man over a twelve year period, Kenshi is an impressive feat and rich with depth, but not a game for those short on time or with no patience for a slow burn.

⛳️ Episode 8: True Golf Classics: Peeble Beach - 1992 - SNES "Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun!" ⛳️ #Retrogaming #SNES

⛳️"Standing on the Beach waiting for your buddy to play his next shot on the PAR 4 1st Hole, 

surely it doesn't get much better than that? 

Well, let's see how this SNES gem gets on as I take a trip around the first 3 holes of this Pebble Beach links course!"⛳️

⛺️🤠 Why I Love Red Dead Redemption 2 🤠⛺️ #RDR2

I awake in my bed and stare into the wilderness. My bed is adjacent to Flat Iron Lake in all its splendour.

As I sit on my bed I look across the Lake and think about what happened yesterday and what I’ll be doing today.

The first thing to focus on is picking up a few bales of hay and getting those horses fed.

Then I’ll head over to the wood pile and chop a few more logs.

After that, I’ll chat with a few people around the camp to see what they’re up to.

⚔️ Preview: Guard Duty "chunky pixelated hand-crafted artwork" ⚔️ #GameDev #GuardDuty

Guard Duty – Preview
Developer – Sick Chicken
Release date: Spring 2019 (PC – Steam)

A graphic-adventure game in the classic inventory-based puzzle vein, Guard Duty spans two time-zones and has a very British sense of humour about it.

👹 Review: Pikuniku "A beast that definitely isn’t a burden" 👹 #GameDev @PikuNikuGame @BrittRecluseuk

Game Title - Pikuniku

Platform Reviewed - PC (Steam)

Rating - Ice Cool

I really wasn’t sure what to expect with Pikuniku but after spending only a few minutes in the world of this charming puzzle-platformer, I couldn’t stop until I reached the end.

🎨 Review: GRIS (Nintendo Switch) - "A work of art" 🎨 #GameDev

I’m a massive fan of video games that don’t overcomplicate and that leave a lot of the story to a players imagination and interpretations.

🏌 Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun Episode 7: The Irem Major Title - SNES - 1990 🏌 #Retrogaming #Golf

🎮⛳️ "This golf game is perfect, it's by far the best SNES golf game I've ever played. Come join me for a few holes of IREM's finest" 🎮⛳️

🍻 🤠 Getting Drunk With Lenny & Arthur Morgan 🤠 🍻 #RDR2

🍻🤠"Lenny & Arthur have a drinking session at the Valentine Saloon!"🤠🍻

⛴️💣 Sunless Sea - Zubmariner Edition - PS4 - Ten Minute Taster ⛴️💣 #GameDev

⛴️💣"A murky set of waters are your playground as you scour fallen London in order to find adventure, fortune and Iceberg monsters on the Sunless Sea!"⛴️💣

⚔️👿📕 Review: Book Of Demons "A love letter to classic Hack & Slash games" 📕👿⚔️ #GameDev @ThingTrunk

Book of Demons

Return2Games/Thing Trunk

The ARPG genre is one that is filled to the brim with numerous titles to choose from, making standing out from the pack very, very difficult.

Book of Demons manages to feel different through its tight, streamlined gameplay and unique visual approach but it ultimately remained a game that I appreciated more than enjoyed.

⛳️ Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun - Episode 6: St Andrews - 1995 - SNES ⛳️ #Retrogaming

🎮⛳️"Tee Off has never been so tough! Watch me struggle to get further than 2 yards off the tee while I play this Japanese Golf Game based on St Andrews"🎮⛳️

💾 Britt Roberts: The Rambling Man "Disk 1 of Dungeon Quest is No More" 💾 #Retrogaming #C64

This festive period has been marked for me by a distinct lack of reviewing due to buying a house and having to move over the New Year. 

With no Wi-Fi, I couldn’t download the indie gold sent to me by The Mighty Games Freezer and so I found myself retreating into the Kingdom of Carts Collection in these (quite literally) dark days. 

I thought I’d just write a bit of a rambling blog discussing what I’ve been up to and some thoughts that I’ve had, just to prove I’m still kicking around if anything!

🏯 Review: Nairi Tower Of Shirin - "awesome for point n click fans of ALL ages" (Nintendo Switch) 🏯 #GameDev @HomeBearStudio

Developer: Home Bear Studio
Format: Nintendo Switch

Nairi Tower Of Shirin boasts elegantly hand-drawn storybook style visuals which draw you into this charming point and click adventure and it leaves you hoping that a follow up to this video game will come soon!

⛳️ Episode 5: Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun PGA TOUR 96 - 1995 - SNES ⛳️ #Retrogaming

⛳️Golf Has Never Been So Much FUN "Swings" back into action with a 329-yard drive of a golf video game.....it's PGA TOUR 96 on SNES⛳️

🏎️💨 Review: Horizon Chase Turbo "An Arcade Racer 36 Years in The Making" 🏎️💨 #GameDev @AquirisGS

The cars are on the grid, you grip the steering wheel ready to zip off that starting grid with a boost start that will leave your opponents in your dust.

The countdown hits zero and off you speed in pursuit of 19 other cars around some of the most perfectly designed race tracks in the history of motor racing.

For me, that's every time I fire up a session of Horizon Chase Turbo on my Nintendo Switch.

🎮 "Can we review objectively the first ever games we played growing up, even if they were awful?" 🎮 @arcadeattackUK (Inspired By Arcade Attack)

Inspired by a recent tweet from our friends at Arcade Attack the lads asked:

"Can we review objectively the first ever games we played growing up, even if they were awful?"

🏆 Rich's Games Of The Year 2018 🏆

2018 was a time of plentiful video games. I almost drowned in games in 2018 but I didn’t even get close to playing all the games I wanted to.

For me, it was a year that I was totally devoted to my beautiful Nintendo Switch with my PS4 getting a look in more towards the end of 2018.

The first quarter of 2018 was taken up with me playing through two of the greatest video games ever produced!

🍨 Pang Man Part 37: A trip to the Kirby Café 🍨 #Kirby

On my previous visit to Japan in 2016 I was gutted when I missed out on going to the Kirby Café restaurant, so this time I was delighted to find out that the Kirby Café pop up was returning on dates which coincided with my own.

However, this excitement was short-lived when I discovered that the café had been booked up in for months in advance.

Undeterred I decided to visit the venue, anyway, have a quick look around and hopefully, take a few photos.